Immunotherapy in the news again

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, with a teething baby eating my sleep and job applications eating my time, so a longer written piece is off the cards for now. It seems my piece on new cancer treatments, specifically immunotherapy, however, was a timely one, as it’s hitting the news again, with big successes reported in the use of modified T-cell therapy to treat blood cancers, reported in the Guardian here. These include some startling trial results:

In the most promising study, about 35 patients with ALL were treated with Cars-modified T-cells; 94% went into remission, though symptoms could reappear. More than 40 patients with lymphoma have also been treated, with remission rates of more than 50%. In a group with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, there was evidence of diminished cancer symptoms in more than 80% of cases.

These are really impressive figures. Is it just hype? These results were reported at a major scientific meeting, and the ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukaemia) trial results are described as being under review and pending publication. So it’s not just a press release from a laboratory that has been wildly spun out of all proportion by an over-enthusiastic press. I for one will definitely be wanting to read the original research paper when (if) it is published. We can expect to see a flood of trial results and papers published within the next couple of years, if it lives up to even half of its original promise.

A few thoughts on Use of Weapons…

I recently re-read one of my favourite books, Iain M Banks’ masterpiece, Use of Weapons, and, as is often the case with a really great book, had a few insights that had previously eluded me. Please be aware that there are major spoilers below the read more tag. I mean seriously for the whole book.

The future of cancer treatment, part 2

How often do you hear a new medical treatment, or any scientific or technological innovation, as “It sounds like something out of science fiction but WonderDrug X will cure Deadly Disease Y….” ? Too often, in my humble opinion, and, in my suspicions, by people who don’t read that much science fiction (or fact). But there are some cancer treatments coming up that have been mooted (or at least something similar has) in science fiction. Let me throw some catchphrases at you: “Personalised medicine”, “Biological therapy”, and, best of all, “Nanobots!!!” Which obviously deserve three exclamations all of their own. Amidst the headline tags, there’s a welter of confusing terms: “Targeted therapy”, “Immunotherapy”, “Oncolytic therapy,” “proton beam therapy,” and, my personal favourite, “Cyberknife”. Now I’ll go through some of the newer cancer treatments that come with these labels attached: some in use, some in development, and see if they do the justice hype – and if science fiction really did say it all first.